By Geno McGahee
The 1990s was an interesting time and a time of change. Music has moved from heavy metal to grunge and a new form of comedy was introduced that was raw and real courtesy of MTV. Two shows they put out were THE TOM GREEN SHOW and JACKASS, and both presented something new. This was well before everyone was doing crazy stuff on YouTube. This was comedic gold…real prank shows that was cool. Tom Green had a great run in this medium and the network saw potential crossover potential and put him into film and into the 2001 comedy “FREDDY GOT FINGERED.”
Written, directed and starring Tom Green, FREDDY GOT FINGERED did was not the hit that they had hoped for. It was universally panned and established actors that were part of it got some negative feedback. It came a million shy of making back its 15 million dollar budget and was the last time that we saw Green on the big screen in a film that he wrote. He would appear in other films like ROAD TRIP and STEALING HARVARD, but another FREDDY GOT FINGERED would not be allowed, and I say that it’s a damn shame.
Gord (Green) is going off to Hollywood to chase his dream of being a cartoonist. He reluctantly accepted a job at his uncle Neil’s (Stephen Tobolowsky) cheese factory, but it doesn’t last long. On his way there, he actually makes a stop off to make his “daddy proud” which is something that he wants desperately to do. He sees a horse and begins jerking off the horse, screaming “look at me daddy. I’m a farmer.” I admit that this movie isn’t for everyone, but this is hilarious and it’s not the last time we see him giving an animal a hand job in this movie.
At the cheese factory, he quickly gets bored and jumps onto the production line and takes a huge sausage and pretends it’s his prick, stating: “Look at me. I’m a sexy boy.” He then goes back and forth with it, hitting the workers in the head and screaming “ding-dong.” You have to appreciate Tom Green and his humor to appreciate this. This is not Jerry Seinfeld (thank god) sort of humor…this is raw dirty humor and it’s about as funny as it gets at times.
Gord tracks down Mr. Davidson (Anthony Michael Hall), a network player, and wants to get his cartoon cat a TV show, but he has a lot to learn. He ends up going back home and his father, Jim (Rip Torn), isn’t happy. “I spend all day working and all he does is stay home and jerk off,” is one of his quotes. Gord’s brother, Freddy (Eddie Kaye Thomas), is fighting for the love of their father and seems to be ignored, causing conflict between him and the unemployed Gord.
After meeting Betty (Marisa Coughlan), Gord attempts to impress her by borrowing one of his dad’s suits and taking her out to a “fancy restaurant”, but his dad intrudes and a war breaks out with Jim spanking Gord while Gord screams “Daddy. Daddy.” Gord gets another job at a sandwich shop, but when Betty creates a rocket that works to power her wheelchair, he realizes that dreams can come true and he focuses once again on his cartoons, leading to success and revenge against his father.
I should probably mention what the title of this movie refers to. After a big fight between Gord and Jim, they see a therapist and Gord accuses his dad of “fingering Freddy,” which has to be investigated. Child molestation humor wasn’t even off limits here and it was once again a funny moment. When his dad gets drunk and dances and says “Fuck your daddy. Fuck your daddy,” I found it very funny. This movie is not trying to change the world. It was trying to bring that raw comedic energy to the big screen and it did.
FREDDY GOT FINGERED is a hilarious movie. At times, it’s unfocused and some of the jokes don’t’ work, but the ones that do work are hilarious. Rip Torn is an amazing actor and he is so funny in this film. He got some negative critiques for his acceptance of this role, but, as always, he took to it and owned it. Julie Hagerty played the role of “Julie Brody”, Gord’s mom, and she was also very good in this. Her reactions were priceless. They could not have cast this movie much better.
I wish that they didn’t cut out the scenes with Stephen Tobolowsky, another great comedic actor. He was so funny as the owner of the cheese factory and when he held Gord and sang “it’s gonna be alright”, it was very funny. They deleted the scene, but it’s on the DVD. Harland Williams had a small role as Gord’s friend, Darren, and proved again to be a comedic force. I also want to give credit to Drew Barrymore, who was dating Green at the time. She was so over the top in this film and funny.
FREDDY GOT FINGERED should have been a hit. I’m not sure why it wasn’t. JACKASS ruled the big screen and they share the same crowd. I think that had the movie had more focus, it would have been better received. It was scattered at times, but the good heavily outweighs the bad and I find this film to be one of the better comedies of that time. I may be going against the masses here when I say that I highly recommend this film. Maybe the fact that it didn’t perform well was more to do with timing than anything else. They probably waited too long.
Rating: 7.5/10
